1901 
rilH RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
587 
His Wife and His Horse. 
“Yes, I should say Jason had made a 
sensible choice. She looks strong and 
well, and will prove willing and patient 
and kind, I feel pretty sure. She doesn’t 
look as if she was afraid of hard work 
or would shirk or complain much.’’ 
It was Mr. Fifleld who thus summed 
up, at the breakfast table, the general 
impression made by a young woman the 
family had met for the first time tlie 
evening before, the newly arrived bride 
of the young farmer whose orchards 
joined theirs. Mrs. Fifield acquiesced. 
Lottie had already declared that she 
liked the new neighbor. Tommie had 
said she was not very pretty, and Ned, 
who was beginning to think ne knew 
many things, had demurred at her “big 
mouth’’ and decided that she laughed 
too much. Little Bess, on the strength 
of some petting and a promise received 
the night before, devoted herself to her 
oatmeal after announcing that she 
should go to see Mrs. Jason every day, 
specially baking days. The child loved 
to cut cookies and make saucer pies, but 
received little sympathy in the home 
pantry. Only Fannie had remained si¬ 
lent. No one had noticed this and Mr. 
Fifield looked up surprised when, in re¬ 
sponse to his summary of the new wife’s 
virtues she protested: 
“Father! One would think you were 
discussing a new horse he had bought!’’ 
Mr. Fifield regarded his daughter a 
moment, then he pushed back his chair, 
for he had finished his coffee some time 
before, and abandoned further discus¬ 
sion by going to the barn. 
“Now you needn’t look severe, I was 
not disrespectful,’’ Fannie began in self- 
defence when the door was closed upon 
her father, and Bess and the boys had 
run off to feed the menagerie in the 
back shed. “I had to speak or choke. 
It makes me out of all patience. She 
is well enough, and I don’t object to lier, 
if Jason is satisfied. But she does ap¬ 
pear as wooden as a clotheshorse and 
about as interesting as a cow. I don’t 
say she isn’t a good and useful person, 
but the idea of praising and lauding her 
to the skies as if brains were of no more 
consequence in a woman (than in an ox, 
if only she be willing and able to work.’’ 
“I shouldn’t wonder if she had been 
to school as many terms as we have,” 
Lottie’s slow even tones replied, “I’m 
sure we are not so remarkable ourselves 
that we have much excuse for looking 
down on other people.” 
Fannie’s cheeks grew redder, and she 
turned about to escape the patient pi’O- 
test in her mother’s eyes. “Oh you don’t 
understand!” she cried. “It isn’t what I 
am myself. I am miles and miles short 
of being what I like and admire, but I 
am not going to be carried away with 
admiration of a person who knows less 
than I do, and who probably hasn’t an 
idea of anything but what she has real¬ 
ized in herself.” 
Lottie laid down the knives and forks 
she had been gathering up. “Now, 
Fan!” she said with decision, “if you 
are going to sail off into one of your 
moods of airs and high notions you shall 
work alone. If we talk we shall quarrel 
and get unhappy, and I prefer to keep 
quiet and enjoy myself. I think Cousin 
Emma and Aunt Sarah will be over this 
afternoon, and I mean to try a new kind 
of cake for tea. You may do the work 
here or upstairs as you prefer.” 
It is perhaps not necessary to record 
in what manner Fannie closed the door. 
She chose to set the sleeping rooms in 
order, and did an astonishing amount of 
dusting and sweeping during the morn¬ 
ing. Girls of a certain type have many 
moods and notions to work off. No 
doubt the vigorous physical exercise as¬ 
sisted P''annie’s return to placidity. At 
noon, when Bess discovered how ex¬ 
ceedingly fresh and pretty the front 
rooms were looking, and ran off to call 
the mother and Lottie to come and see 
Fannie’s beautiful bouquets and how 
nicely she had rearranged the parlor 
chairs, Fannie was once more serene 
and smiling. Later, when Sarah Fifield 
and Emma had duly appeared, and the 
five sat with tneir needlework discussing 
whatever lay uppermost in family inter¬ 
ests, Fannie gave the visitors an amus¬ 
ing and perfectly fair synopsis of the 
verdict upon the new neighbor, not omit¬ 
ting her own naughty temper. 
“I am not sure but men uo choose 
their wives much as they do their 
horses,” mused Sarah Fifield after Fan¬ 
nie’s story was ended. 
“You know, do you not. Aunt Janet, 
what helped your Clara to decide that 
she liked and trusted Therqn Hun- 
toon?” asked Emma, addressing Mrs. 
Fifield. “I did not know but she told 
you,” Emma went on, seeing that no 
one knew to what she referred. “It 
made quite an impression on my mind. 
Maybe I should never have decided to 
marry Jack if I had not had that to help 
me say yes. Clara said she wasn’t sure 
what she did think of Mr. Huntoon till 
one day he took her and Miss Peck off 
for a long drive. He had a hired horse, 
and she said she liked the way he 
treated it. He made it keep a comfort¬ 
ably good pace, but he was considerate 
and droll, too, and when it acted foolish¬ 
ly about a hand cart of some sort he en¬ 
couraged it intelligently and showed pa¬ 
tience and understanding. Clara said 
she had long had a theory that a man 
treated his wife as he did his horse, and 
she began from that day to appreciate 
and trust Mr. Huntoon.” 
“Mr. Harris whips his horses just 
dreadful,” remarked little Bess from the 
door sill, where she sat endeavoring to 
put her dolly’s dress on to the gray kit¬ 
ten, 
“And his wife threatens to go home 
to her mother,” Lottie added, laughing. 
“When a man is in love and knows 
he is on trial I fear there isn’t much de¬ 
pendence to be placed on his apparent 
amiability,” remarked Sarah Fifield. 
“Maybe this Mr. Harris was good na- 
tured when he took his wife out to ride 
before they were married. And I cannot 
think that the young men who drive 
horses so cruelly are really hard heart ¬ 
ed, I think they are oftener silly and 
full of false notions of smartness; they 
make the mistake of supposing that 
they make a fine appearance when driv¬ 
ing fast. But I shouldn’t wonder if 
Clara was right in some measure. The 
man who twitches and frets at his 
horse would be likely to be impatient 
and ungentle with his wife, perhaps.” 
“The Eliots indulge their horses to 
the last degree,” said Emma gaily. 
“They are unchecked when they have a 
load to draw, and let to drink at every 
wayside brook.” 
“Yes, they feed their animals well and 
give them good care, but don’t you 
trust too much to that, Emma,” said 
Mrs. Fifield. “There isn’t a pair of 
horses in town that do more work in a 
year than those your husband drives. It 
was always so on that farm. Mrs. Eliot 
and the girls could always have a horse 
to drive, and Jack rides down to the 
village many a night when other men 
would think their horses must rest. Use 
your own judgment, child, and don’t 
trust any man to test your capacity for 
work.” 
“Yes, Aunt Janet,” said Emma sol¬ 
emnly, but laughed the next moment 
and went on merrily. “It is because 
they humor their horses and keep them 
quiet and unfretted that they can do so 
much. Why, look at old Peggy! Nearly 
30, and sleek and hearty yet! Not one 
of the young horses will cultivate as 
much ground in a day. But 1 will keep 
an eye on Jack, since you think I 
ought.” fp. T. PRIMROSE. 
A Chapter of Pickles 
Pickled Peaches.—For six pounds of 
fruit use thi-ee pounds of sugar and a 
pint of vinegar. Rub the peaches with 
a flannel cloth to remove the fuzz, and 
place in each two cloves and several 
small pieces of cinnamon. Put the sugar 
and vinegar on to cook, and when it is 
boiling hot drop in a few peaches and 
cook until they are tender, but do not 
allow them to lose their shape. The 
peaches and syrup should be put in the 
jars hot, and sealed. Only ripe peaches 
should be used for pickling, otherwise 
the fruit will shrivel. 
Chopped Pickle.—Six large cucum¬ 
bers, one peck of green tomatoes, one 
head of cabbage, four large onions, 
three large bunches of celery, four small 
peppers, five cents’ worth of mixed 
white mustard and celery seed, one gal¬ 
lon of vinegar and one-half teacupful 
of grated horseradish. Sprinkle one- 
half teaspoonful of salt through the 
above vegetables after they are chopped; 
let remain 24 hours. Heat up in a weak 
vinegar at first, drain, then boil 20 min¬ 
utes in the clear, strong cider vinegar. 
Will keep well in crocks unsealed. 
East India Pickles.—Remove the seeds 
from six green tomatoes and two green 
and one red pepper; slice the tomatoes 
and 12 medium-sized green cucumbers, 
and chop the peppers and two onions 
fine; sprinkle with one cup of salt and 
let stand 24 hours. Drain the vege 
tables, pour two cupfuls of vinegar and 
one of water over them; slowly bring 
to a boil and drain again. Make a 
smooth paste with a little cold vinegar, 
three tablespoonfuls of sugar, one tea¬ 
spoonful each of cinnamon and turmeric 
and one-fourth teaspoonful each of 
cloves and allspice; bring one pint of 
vinegar to a boil, add two tablespoon¬ 
fuls each of chopped mint and white 
mustard seed, the spices, and then the 
vegetables; bring to a boil, cook 20 min¬ 
utes, stirring constantly; pour into pint- 
size glass fruit j*rs and seal hot. 
Pickled Damsons.—This is a sweet 
pickle, and very good served with mut¬ 
ton or venison. Ingredients required: 
Three pounds damsons, one quart of 
vinegar, three pounds moist sugar, one- 
half ounce cinnamon, three blades of 
mace, one-quarter ounce allspice. The 
plums should be ripe, but not too much 
so; the bloom is rubbed off with a piece 
of flannel or a clean cloth, and they are 
pricked a little with a needle. The vine¬ 
gar, sugar and spices are boiled together 
for 10 minutes, then strained and 
poured over the fruit, in a large basin. 
Next day the vinegar is boiled again, 
and again poured over the damsons, and 
on the third day the damsons them¬ 
selves are simmered in the vinegar for 
exactly five minutes. They should be 
tied down while hot. A quicker method 
of pickling either plums or damsons is 
the following: Remove the stalks from 
the fruit; wipe it and arrange in layers 
in a jar with good brown sugar sprink¬ 
led between. Fill up the jars with cold 
vinegar, tie them down and bake in 
rather a slow oven till the plums are 
tender, then tie down for use. 
Cucumber Pickles.—Wash the cucum¬ 
bers clean and place them in a stone 
jar. Cover with a brine made of one 
pint of salt to six quarts of water. The 
water should be boiling hot. Place 
grape leaves on top, weight down and 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.WIns- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
let stand until morning. Pour the water 
off, rinse, then place alternate layers of 
grape leaves and the cucumbers in the 
pickling kettle. Pour over them alum 
water made of one teaspobnful of pow¬ 
dered alum to each quart of water; dis¬ 
solve the alum in the water cold. After 
pouring it over the cucumbers, allow to 
come to scalding point. Let the whole 
stand closely covered, on the back of 
the stove for two hours, then drain and 
place in ice or very cold water. Pour 
this water off, wipe dry and place in a 
jar a layer of pickles and one of salt un¬ 
til all are in; allow about a pint of 
salt to each 100 medium-sized pickles. 
Pour boiling water over and cover with 
grape leaves. Heat this brine every 
morning for nine mornings. Then heat 
gently in warm, weak vinegar, wipe dry 
and place in glass jars. Pour over hot 
spiced vinegar and seal at once. The 
vinegar is to be prepared as follows: 
For each quart of vinegar (not too 
strong) allow two teaspoonfuls each of 
cinnamon and cloves, one teaspoonful 
each of mace and celery seed, a few thin 
slices of horseradish, an ounce of mus¬ 
tard seed, a saltspoonful of black pep¬ 
per, a pinch of red pepper and a cupful 
of coffee A sugar. Put the spices in a 
thin muslin bag. Bring the vinegar to 
boiling point, add sugar and spices and 
let boil for 15 minutes; then pour over 
the pickles. Pickles made after this 
method never shrink or grow soft. 
Pickled nasturtium seeds are an excel¬ 
lent substitute for capers, and they, 
with radish pods, make a nice relish for 
meats. Select the seeds as soon as the 
flowers have fallen off; gather them on 
a dry day. Spread in the sun for a few 
days, transfer to a jar, cover with well- 
spiced, boiling vinegar. Radish pods 
should be soaked in salt and water for 
three days; drain and cover with spiced 
vinegar. 
Mustard Pickles.—Two red peppers, 
two heads cauliflower, two quarts silver 
skinned onions, one-half peck small cu¬ 
cumbers (gherkins), one pound brown 
sugar, three-quarters pound best mus¬ 
tard, three quarts vinegar, one-half 
ounce celery seed, one^half ounce white 
mustard seed, one dessertspoonful tur¬ 
meric powder, one teaspoonful each cin¬ 
namon and cloves, five cents’ worth 
mixed pickling spices. Put the cucum¬ 
bers, onions and (picked) cauliflower to 
soak in salt water over night. In the 
morning drain; mix turmeric powder 
with dry mustard, wet with sufficient 
vinegar to mix without lumps; put re¬ 
mainder of vinegar over the fire, adding 
thereto the sugar, seed, spices, etc., care¬ 
fully stir in mustard paste and let boil 
up well. Then add the mixed pickles 
(the peppers and seeds chopped), and 
stir all together. After it begins to 
bubble let boil well for five minutes; re¬ 
move from the stove and put in jars. 
Ripe Cucumber Pickles.—Thinly pare 
six ripe cucumbera, cut in halves 
lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, 
then cut into half-inch strips. Lay on 
a platter, sprinkle thickly with salt and 
let stand over night. Next morning 
drain and dry on a towel. From six 
large red peppers remove the seeds and 
cut in fine strips; also cut one root of 
horseradish into small pieces. In a 
stone jar pack the prepared cucumbers, 
peppers and horseradish, sprinkling 
through them one-half of a pound of 
white mustard seed. Pour over suffi¬ 
cient boiling hot vinegar to cover and 
set away. On the third day drain off 
the vinegar and arrange the pickles in 
glass jars. Bring the vinegar to the 
scalding point, pour over the pickles 
and cover them. In another week they 
will be ready for use, but will be better 
if allowed to stand for a month. 
No More Spoiled Fruit. 
Canning made easy and sure by uslnK my Standard 
I’atent Self-Meltinjf, Self-Sealing Wax Strings. Very 
economical and easy to apply. Valuable fruit In¬ 
formation, and lOU Strings by mall, for 45 cents in 
stamps. C. C. FOUTZ, Middletown, Ohio. 
